Golden Eagle Classic at Jacobs
Conrad Krutwig didn't grab every rebound. It just seemed like it.
Jacobs' 6-foot-5 junior center snared a career-high 18 boards and led the Golden Eagles with 21 points in a 73-55 victory over Cary-Grove in Friday's second semifinal of the Jacobs Golden Eagle Classic in Algonquin.
If the Golden Eagles (11-1) can defeat St. Charles North (7-7) in tonight's championship game at 7:30 p.m., they will become the first team to win back-to-back tournament titles at Jacobs since the field expanded to 16 teams in 2000.
"We want to be the first to do it," said Krutwig. "We definitely wanted it tonight. We were beating them on the boards, getting offensive rebounds and fighting for putbacks."
Tim Moran (5 rebounds), Zack Peterson (4 rebounds) and John Moran (4 rebounds) helped Jacobs finish with a 37-19 advantage on the glass, a costly differential to a bold Cary-Grove squad that nevertheless managed to stay within 7 points of the lead deep into the fourth quarter because it shot 10 of 21 from 3-point range.
"You can't have a differential like that if you want to be in a close game," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said of the rebounding total. "You can't be more than minus-10. You definitely can't be minus-18. Their size and strength hurt us. We just couldn't keep them off the glass and the game blew up on us."
Cary-Grove (8-4) trailed by as many as 13 points in the second quarter but was able to pull within 58-51 with 3:25 left in the game when Ben Jacquier grabbed a rare offensive rebound and banked home a bucket.
But Jacobs undercut suspense by closing the game on a 14-2 run. The surge started with 2 free throws from John Moran, who finished with 19 points, 7 steals and 7 assists, and Zack Peterson added a transition layup that restored a double-digit lead.
After a Paul Tometich drive, Krutwig scored on two feeds from John Moran and notched an old-fashioned three-point play with a twisting layup on the break.
"He's had two stellar nights in a row," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said of Krutwig. "He's coming. He's been stepping up on defense and the glass, so we're really happy about that."
In the first half Jacobs shot 48 percent from the floor (15 of 31), and took a 35-29 halftime lead on the strength of 10 of Peterson's 12 points.
Paul Tometich scored a game-high 23 points to lead Cary-Grove. Mark Tometich splashed five 3-pointers for 15 points.
Cary-Grove will play Crystal Lake South for third place today at 6 p.m.
Wauconda 65, Marian Central 57: Marian ŒCentral had a difficult time stopping Wauconda's Eric Grozavescu, who scored a game-high 30 points in the victory. Bryce Larman finished with 14, and Connor Dimick finished with 11 points.
Chris Casey led Marian Central with 25 points, including four 3-pointers. Andy Stochl added 10 points, and Jordan Peart added nine.
Lindblom 47, Barrington 45: Barrington battled hard until the end but came out on bottom despite the 14-point effort by Charlie Douglas. Chris Howard contributed 13 points. Lindblom was led by Sedric Ferguson, scoring 19 points. Dan Jackson added 16 points.
Johnsburg 64, St. Edward 38: St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek did not want to use his team's fatigue as an excuse.
He was only pointing out the obvious.
After playing a tight first half against Johnsburg, the physical Skyhawks outmuscled the smaller Green Wave and took a 64-38 victory at the Jacobs Golden Eagle Classic Friday.
St. Edward (5-8) was outscored 33-14 in the second half after trailing only 31-24 at halftime.
"They had a little bit more energy," Chuipek said of the Skyhawks.
The Green Wave will need a good night's rest as they close out the tournament against another physical opponent -- Prairie Ridge at 10:30 a.m. today.
"It's another physical team," Chuipek said. "The kids play hard. They're always well-coached."
St. Edward will look for more of its first-half effort.
The Green Wave shot 47.6 percent (10 of 21) from the floor in the first half. St. Edward was just 27.7 percent (5 of 18) in the second half.
Johnsburg was able to open up the second half after making 4 of its final 5 shots of the third quarter. The streak, led by 3 baskets from Ryan Weingart, allowed Johnsburg to finish the third quarter on a 11-2 run.
Steve Martin (7 points) brought St. Edward to within 36-30 with 4:51 remaining in the third period. C.J. Fiedorowicz (19 points, 11 rebounds) put the Skyhawks up 38-30 on the next trip down the floor.
St. Edward would not score another basket until Brian Phelan scored with 41 seconds remaining in the quarter. Weingart finished with 10 of his 15 points in the third period, while St. Edward scored just 8.
The Green Wave's first-half success came from its outside shooters. Brett Manning scored 7 of his 9 points in the first half and Riley Coleman scored all 8 of his points in the first half.
With the Green Wave offense struggling, the defense followed suit.
"For a lot of teams, the defense fuels the offense," said St. Edward guard Josh Dix, who was held to just 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting. "For us it's almost the opposite, our offense fuels our defense."
After surrendering halftime leads in its two previous losses in the tournament, Johnsburg was determined to hit the boards hard in the second half. St. Edward was limited to just 1 offensive rebound and Johnsburg owned a 17-7 advantage on the glass.
"We struggled finishing games," Johnsburg coach Matt Ryndak said. "We were being aggressive, rebounding the ball. We played a little harder (in the second half)."
Mundelein 66, Prairie Ridge 43: Navjot Singh held the spotlight in Mundelein's victory over Prairie Ridge. Singh scored 27 points, 11 of them in the first quarter alone. Eric Pagsanjan contributed 10 points, and Ben Brust added 9 points to the scoreboard.
Prairie Ridge was led by Ben Rippel, scoring 14 points. Bryan Bradshaw added ten points.
CL Central 63, Woodstock 56: Josh Polk led all scorers with 22 points to help Crystal Lake Central defeat Woodstock during tournament action at Jacobs. Carson Sterchi finished 16 points, while Jimmy Capalbo added 12 points.
Ben Wetherbee scored a team-high 16 points, while Cameron Sanchez and Arthur Johnson each contributed 12 points.
Bartlett 60, Elk Grove 39: Elk Grove was beaten 72-50 by Bartlett in a nonconference meeting earlier this month, so the Grenadiers figured they knew which Hawks they had to contain in Friday's rematch at the Jacobs Golden Eagle Classic.
Elk Grove rolled defenders to help out against 6-foot-9 Eastern Michigan recruit Kamil Janton and paid close attention to explosive Bartlett senior Cory Hrynyk on the perimeter.
But teams are finding that this Bartlett boys basketball team has no weak links, so overplaying one talented player merely leaves another open to do the damage.
In Bartlett's 60-39 dismantling of Elk Grove Friday, that player was sophomore Luke Labedski.
The 6-foot-tall, muscular guard hit his first 5 shots, and his 12 first-quarter points fueled a 14-2 Bartlett spurt to open the game. The Hawks never led by less than 9 points the rest of the way.
"I was just upset by yesterday's game (a 59-56 loss to Jacobs), so I came into this game with a chip on my shoulder," said Labedski, who scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. "(Jacobs) was a close game and I had hurt my elbow the day before, so my shot was off. I felt like I had to do something today."
Labedski scored the last 6 points of the first half to stake Bartlett (9-4) to a 36-20 lead at intermission.
"He was a mismatch," said Elk Grove senior Joe Baxter. "We could contain him when we had good help line, but he's a good player. It's hard to stop him."
Baxter was a bright spot for Elk Grove (2-12). He scored a team-best 12 points. Senior guard Kevin McDonald contributed 10 points for the Grens, including a pair of 3-pointers.
But Elk Grove was consistently frustrated on offense by the taller, broader, more physical Hawks.
"We thought we could work each possession. That's what we wanted to do," Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. "Our game plan was to force them to shoot from the perimeter and take advantage of all our possessions, but they got to the basket a lot in the first half. They're a good team and they don't miss very much.
"I don't think we did enough to alter their game plan. We were outmatched physically with them, but it was a great opportunity to play a team that's much better than us. Playing teams like this will make us better."
Bartlett will play Crystal Lake Central, a 63-56 winner over Woodstock on Friday, in today's consolation "A" championship game at 4:30 p.m.
Elk Grove (2-12) will complete tournament play against Woodstock today at noon.
-- Jerry Fitzpatrick
St. Charles North 58, CL South 34: From the bottom of the barrel to respectability in 2 short weeks.
That's the saga for the St. Charles North Stars.
Starting the season a miserable 2-7, North claimed its fifth straight win with an impressive 58-34 victory over Crystal Lake South in the semifinals of the Golden Eagle Classic at Jacobs Friday night.
North, 4-0 in the tournament and 7-7 overall, advances to tonight's 7:30 p.m. title game against host and defending champion Jacobs. The Gators (6-5) play Cary-Grove for third place at 6 p.m.
"We had three solid days of practice before the tournament and we worked on sharing the basketball and making the extra passes," said St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin. "Tonight was our best team effort of the season. We spread the floor well and played together."
Aided by red hot shooting from junior Zach Hirsch, the North Stars broke the game open in the second quarter.
Holding a comfortable 10-point lead at 24-14, St. Charles North scored the final 12 points of the half, which included three 3-pointers by Hirsch. Hirsch's 3 at the buzzer gave the North Stars a 22-point lead, 36-14, at intermission.
The St. Charles North junior, who scored all 17 of his points in the first half, was 5 of 8 from 3-point range during the first 16 minutes.
"The guys were doing a great job of penetrating and dishing off," said Hirsch. "I found a spot on the left side of the floor and felt comfortable. They knew I was hot and got me the ball. We are really playing as a team in the tournament."
The North Stars' biggest lead was 27, 49-22, after a putback by Rusty Lavaga to end the third quarter. After Hirsch, Tim Janeway and Lavaga scored 8 points each. Jonathan DeMoss scored only 4 points but had 7 assists for the winners.
Crystal Lake South, which committed 33 turnovers in the game, was led by Chris Reuter with 6 points.
"We played timid and they really took it to us," said South coach Dan DeBruycker. "They got every loose ball and every rebound. They were more aggressive at both ends of the floor than we were. We were very sloppy offensively. We had way too many unforced turnovers. Our defense, which has been great all year, was terrible tonight."
-- Dave Hess
Compiled by Jaci Corn